We recently highlighted the plight of the Dangote workers in Nigeria who were sacked last year for refusing to leave their union. [See Nigeria: Defend victimised Dangote Pasta workers!] In spite of extremely difficult conditions these workers have held out since last year in August, with no pay. They are paying a terrible price for their stand. Here a leader of these workers explains the situation they are in. The campaign has already had some positive effects, but they need the solidarity campaign to be stepped up further.

We call on all our readers to support the Public Campaign in defence of over 200 workers of Dangote Pasta at Ikorodu, Lagos (Nigeria) sacked for refusing to resign their membership of the in-house workers’ union since August 2010. We underline the fact that the main trade union organisers were severely beaten in the process and the families of these workers are suffering terribly as a consequence of these actions on the part of management.

This is to raise a public campaign about the plight of over 200 workers at the Dangote Pasta plant in Ikorodu, Lagos, Nigeria, who were sacked for belonging to the in-house workers’union in August 2010 (that is, nine months ago!).

It all started on August 11th 2010 when the National Union of Food Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUBFTE), which Dangote Pasta workers belong to, inaugurated the company’s chapter of the Union after several years of struggle. The management of the company also signed an agreement with the union and nobody raised an eyebrow.

Yesterday a milestone was passed in the social and political situation in Greece and throughout Europe. Impressive mobilizations rolled across the country: half a million in Athens and rallies of thousands of people gathered in Thessaloniki, Patras, Larissa, Volos, Heraklion, etc. This places Greece on the threshold of a revolutionary situation. It means that, for the first time in decades the developed capitalist countries of Europe are faced with the prospect of a revolution with continental dimensions.

Public Campaign in support of over 200 workers of Dangote Pasta at Ikorodu Lagos sacked for refusing to resign their membership of the in-house workers’ union since August 2010 (nine months ago):

Save Our Soul!

This is to raise a public campaign about the plight of over 200 workers of Dangote Pasta Ikorodu Lagos Nigeria, who were sacked for belonging to the in-house workers’ union since August 2010(nine months ago).

The Paris Commune of 1871 was one of the greatest and most inspiring episodes in the history of the working class. In a tremendous revolutionary movement, the working people of Paris replaced the capitalist state with their own organs of government and held political power until their downfall in the last week of May. The Parisian workers strove, in extremely difficult circumstances, to put an end to exploitation and oppression, and to reorganise society on an entirely new foundation. The lessons of these events are of fundamental importance for socialists today. We publish this article ahead of the 140th anniversary of the Commune's suppression, tomorrow, 28 May.

Typical of the capitalists and their hangers-on, they passionately love dealing with the symptoms rather than the root cause. They prefer pursuing the shadow rather than the real event. To address the root cause is to expose the capitalist system that has made life miserable for millions of Nigerians. The System that ruins the lives of millions daily, ruins hospitals, education, transportations and other social amenities, and throws millions into unemployment market annually; what a vicious vampire that sucks blood and reminds humanity of the period of barbarism. To expect this system to usher in and sustain a credible, fair and transparent electoral process is to expect a Camel to pass through a needle eye. The ruling class want us to discuss, argue and struggle for abstract, shadowy and absolutely fruitless demands like “Demand for Electoral reforms”, but we must insist on discussing the more important things, we must insistently call on our Labour Leadership to struggle only for more fruitful and concrete demands and save our energy instead of expending it on what can never yield anything positive.

The first step towards a credible and truly democratic process in Nigeria is to first overthrow the present degenerate, inept and absolutely inefficient ruling class and their system (capitalism), which is the root cause of all our woes.

Since the attack on Sadhawnis workers in February 2011, life has been quite unbearable for the 55 sacked workers. The attack by management on the workers could not have been possible without the active collaboration of the National leadership of their union, NUCFRLANMPE. (Check out the March/April 2011 Edition of the Workers’ Alternative).

Obviously, there was an earlier agreement between a dominant section of Nigeria ruling class, Nigeria media and the Imperialists, that no matter what the actual outcome of this election is, it must be adjudged the fairest and freest election in the history of Nigeria. This agreement was strictly adhered to by all the parties concerned. Public opinion is moulded along this line, even where malpractices were very obvious, the media and International communities just looked the other way.

Nigerian workers joined their brothers and sisters throughout the world to celebrate Workers’ Day on May 1st. In Lagos State, the celebration was held at Onikan Stadium. Workers trooped into the stadium en masse to mark the day. However, they had a surprise coming, with the newly elected State Governor giving them a lecture about how increases in workers’ wages cause inflation!

The political drama that unfolded with the April 2011 general elections turned out to be all revealing about the real nature and the deceit of the various sections of the Nigerian ruling class; and more obvious was the lack of genuine political alternative to the present rot in society, which a number of critical voters unconsciously sought during the elections.

In truth, the elections were mainly contested by the different sections of the ruling capitalist class in Nigeria, which have their individual pecuniary interests but who nevertheless, in the last analysis, are all committed to maintaining the present status quo that tilts property relations against the mass of workers and ordinary Nigerians.

As the last Russian soldier crossed the Oxus River going back from Afghanistan into the Soviet Union in 1989, the Japanese-American philosopher at St. James’s University, Maryland and a CIA operative, Francis Fukuyama, came out with his iniquitous thesis on the “end of history”. However, although the Berlin Wall had fallen and the Soviet Union had collapsed, this thesis was soon refuted by history itself as the first Gulf War broke out in 1991.

There is no future without the past. An empirical, mechanistic and a pragmatic approach to the revolution sweeping across the region from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Sea would end up in a flawed analysis and a disastrous fate for the mass upheaval.

We provide a brief historical outline of the development of the Gaddafi regime from the bourgeois Arab nationalism of the early days, to the period of so-called Islamic socialism, to the recent period of opening up to foreign investment, with major concessions to multinational corporations and the beginnings of widespread privatisations.

What started as a genuine revolution against Gaddafi, has been taken over by reactionary bourgeois elements. In the Interim Council, and now the newly formed Interim Government, direct representatives of imperialist interests have been promoted to leading positions.

The Nigeria Capital City of Abuja has probably never witnessed a traffic jam the magnitude of which occurred on the 15th of October 2010. At the Federal Secretariat Complex and the office of the Head of Service of the Federation, most of the offices remained empty as most civil servants have returned to their homes because of the mammoth congestion.

2011 is here and the Political Parties are warming up for the forthcoming election. But unfortunately, Labour Party which ordinarily was supposed to be the political platform of the working class and the other poor masses in society, due to its enormous potential and strength, might after all not be able to effectively stand as a credible alternative to challenge other political parties, due to its present weak position. In 2007, the party won 1 out of 360 seats in the House of Representatives, without any seat in the senate and just one governor out of 36.

It is the worst disaster for Japan since the war, since Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This triple whammy of a force-9 earthquake, a tsunami, followed by a nuclear disaster, has shaken the country to its very foundations. And the consequences of this multifaceted catastrophe are widening by the day.

In the first instance the demands of the Revolution are democratic. Of course! After 30 years of a brutal dictatorship the youth long for freedom. Naturally, their desire for democracy can be abused by bourgeois politicians who are only interested in their future careers in a “democratic” parliament. But we are obliged to take up the democratic demands and give them a sharply revolutionary content. This will inevitably lead on to the demand for an even more fundamental change in society.

In the mornings of February 5 2011, Comrade Yusuf Ajibola, received unusual visitors who turnout to be police officers from the notorious Panti Police Station, Yaba. This is the headquarters of the Lagos State Police Homicide unit. Their mission was to search his apartment and arrest him based on a petition from the National President of National Union of Chemical, Footwear, Rubber, Leather and Non Metallic Products Employee, NUCFRLANMPE, Isok Biniface.

On Thursday, 3 February 2011, workers of Sadhwanis Nigeria Limited embarked on a struggle against the exploitative and inhuman management of the company. The plastic factory is located at Apakun Industrial Estate, Ajao Estate, Lagos.